Do You Know Where Your Will is?

Do you know where your Will is being kept?

As daily life takes time away from stopping to plan for the future, after creating a Will, it is tempting to forget about it completely, knowing the box has been ticked and the job done.

But your Will remains important, as is knowing where to find it if you need to refer to it in the future.

We discuss this with our Head of Wills, Probate and Trust Team, Rebecca Harbron-Gray.

With decades of experience and multiple additional qualifications within the sector, Rebecca leads our dedicated team of specialists who are standing by to assist.

Where does your Will get stored?

Once checked and verified, you will be given a copy of your Will for safekeeping and future reference. A copy will also be held by the organisation that helped craft the document, usually a law firm.

Keep your copy in an easy-to-find place at home. Usually, this is kept with other financial documents, so those who need to know where they are can discover them when the time comes. This will also mean other relevant financial documents are in the same place, so the closure of accounts and identification of direct debits are all in one container/folder/drawer.

On most occasions, this is when the person has died, and their estate requires handling. No longer around to point people in the right direction, if executors don’t know where the document is, this can lead to delays and confusion during the process.

Rebecca said: “Most commonly and most safely, Wills are often stored in Solicitors' Firms with copies being distributed on completion to the client directly and to anyone they then decide to pass copies to. 

“However, there are many strange locations where Wills can be located. It very much depends on the way that clients look after their affairs and where they choose to store them.

“They could be found in anything from a boot of a car to a sporting locker.”

Who should know where your Will is kept?

Telling your executors and immediate family members will help when the time comes. Your executors should be people you trust, so revealing to them where your Will is stored shouldn’t be an issue, as it will be someone close to you to begin with.

Rebecca added: “It is important to know where your Will is to both check it is still up to date and to advise your family and friends of your instructions upon your death.

“It is very helpful to know in advance, as the panic we hear in relatives and friends’ voices when the Will cannot be found after a person has died is particularly difficult, and it could result in your Will being missing, never found, and wishes not followed.

“Ultimately, your estate may not then go to the people you intended if the Will cannot be found.

“The best person to even have an idea where the Will is is you, and without your knowledge, Wills can become very hard to find, so it’s useful to know where it is now.

“We can use searching mechanisms, contact regulatory bodies if the firm has been intervened, and can draft you a new Will if the original Will cannot be found or is so old that it required review anyway.”

How might the location of your Will be forgotten?

People move house, family circumstances change, and time can erode even the strongest memory, meaning the original location of a Will can be forgotten.

Rebecca continued: “If you don’t know where your Will is or if you have lost track, often through no fault of your own, we can help you to locate this.

“What we would need from you is two forms of ID (one showing your photograph and one showing your address) and a signed form of authority – we can draft this for you free of charge.

“We then use our skills to track where it might be or offer advice on what to do if the Will cannot be found.”

What happens if the solicitor’s firm you’ve used has shut down?

If the solicitors you used for producing a Will have gone bust, shut down, or closed permanently for any reason, Winn Solicitors is ready to assist.

Rebecca states: “If you are the victim of a solicitor’s firm closing and you don’t know where your Will is, please pick up the phone and let us help ease those worries and help us locate your Will for you.”

Our team is experienced, skilled and ready to support you every step of the way, whether that’s with producing a Will, conducting the Probate process, or assisting with smaller sections of a longer process.

Whatever your needs, we’re waiting to take your call.

Book a no-obligation appointment now by clicking here.

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